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be reflected in Disney's next feature film Aladdin between Jasmine and her father The Sultan.

When the village people sing Belle, they say "it's a pity and a sin she doesn't quite fit in. Very different from the rest of us is Belle." Maybe it is not a pity and a sin however, because if someone does have hopes and dreams they do not want to be tied down to this small-town way of life where very day is the same. Therefore it would seem to me that their sympathy for Belle to be just like them' is wasted on her. From the audience's point of view, looking at it from the outside, it does not seem like a desirable place to fit into, every day seems like a daily grind. The busy streets with the baker "with his tray like always, the same old bread and rolls to sell" as Belle observes; screaming children; milk carts being overturned, and so forth, she concludes with "every morning just the same as the morning that we came to this poor provincial town." However, in complete contrast, when Belle starts singing about wanting adventure and needing much more than "this provincial life" as she stands on a hilltop with her hair blowing in the wind there is complete silence and no-one around except her. We suddenly feel a little jealous of her at this moment for the wonderful countryside around her home, singing about how these people do not understand how she wants "so much more than they've got planned". Her fantasy world is interrupted by reality however when her father's horse Philippe returns without him, she then takes Philippe (alone) into the dark forest to rescue her father and ends up at the Beast's castle.

Belle finds her father in the castle's dungeon where the Beast has locked him in a cell. She tells him to flee but the Beast shows up and stops the escape. Belle is terrified but offers to take her father's place as the Beast's prisoner if he let's her poor old sick dad go. He agrees and she asks him to "step into the light" because up until now he has been hiding in the shadows, ashamed to show himself to this beautiful young woman. He slides into the beam of moonlight and the camera pans up from his clawed foot to his beastly face, Belle gasps in fear but agrees to stay in the castle forever. She stands tall, hands by her side, her eyes shut and informs him "you have my word" before falling to her knees in tears.

Therefore, Beauty and the Beast seems to mix-up gender stereotypes since the Beast seems to be the princess in distress who needs rescused, thus creating a confused youth cuture in the process. The female character is independent and strong and yet is also an outsider in the village where she lives, the same is true of Ariel in The LittleMermaid, Aladdinas a 'street rat' and so forth. Disney characters are outcasts children are meant to identify with and long to be, therefore is this 'fairytale' world really full of fairytales?

Learn more about this author, Marilyn Justine.
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